Translator: Dreamscribe
"Chairman-nim. I've been informed that your son has submitted an application to Kwangwoon GAIA."
I glanced at the face of the secretary delivering the report.
Se-yoon? At GAIA?
"......."
It wasn't a lie. It was really true.
This kid.
He could have at least given his dad a heads-up.
"Things must be in an uproar over there right now."
"Yes. Of all people, he's your son, Chairman-nim."
I think I know why Se-yoon submitted the application without telling me.
He probably wanted as little of my influence as possible.
I get it.
He's always been the kind of kid who hates being a burden to his dad.
On top of that, he was so clever and driven that whenever he set his mind on something, he absolutely had to see it through.
"Time really does fly. Our Se-yoon is already old enough to be submitting job applications."
Se-yoon was an adult now, but to me he still looked the way he had at ten.
"Yes. It's a blessing that he's grown up so well. You must be very proud, Chairman-nim."
Proud, yes, but on the other hand I also felt a great deal of guilt.
I couldn't help wondering if I'd placed too heavy a burden on him by telling him, ever since he was little, that he would become a scientist who would save the world.
And yet, even now, I still remember the intense signal my Intuition gave me ten years ago.
"Chairman-nim. What should I... tell GAIA?"
"Tell them to vet him thoroughly, and to be far more exacting and meticulous with him than with any other applicant."
"So you want us to be thorough enough that no one has anything to say about it."
"Yes. That'll be better for Se-yoon too."
I felt bad for Se-yoon, but there was no other way.
GAIA was the one place where nothing could be done halfway.
That place was more important than any other facility we had.
* * *
"...Who's coming in?"
"Jung Se-yoon. Chairman Jung Jin-ho's son."
"That's what I'm saying. Why on earth is that kid suddenly coming into GAIA?"
GAIA.
When Chairman Jung Jin-ho had first established this place, he had said these words.
'This has to be the most important institution in the world right now.'
GAIA received the largest investment of any facility in Kwangwoon Group. Packed with cutting-edge equipment and elite minds gathered from all over the world, it was, quite literally, the collected superintelligence of humanity.
Their purpose was a single one.
True to the name Gaia, the goddess of the earth, it was to restore this very planet.
The development of fully clean energy.
The restoration of a ravaged global environment.
A solution to global warming.
It had been founded to solve the difficult problems tied to the survival of the human race.
And so they were continuously developing the technologies necessary for that mission.
"They've poured in quadrillions and set it up so only the top elite can get in, and now he's putting his one and only son in here."
"Hasn't Jung Se-yoon been famous for being called a genius for years now?"
Kim Geum-ho, the General Director of GAIA, narrowed his brow.
"Do you really think there's a single person in this center who hasn't been called a genius? This place only takes elites from all over the world."
"Yes. But this kid's résumé is something else. He graduated from Kwangwoon University at fifteen. He double-majored in physics and artificial intelligence, and came out first in class in both."
In the old days, it had been the standard route to send any smart kid abroad.
But now it was the exact opposite.
All the elites gathered in Korea.
And specifically at Kwangwoon University, which had become even harder to get into than before.
"On top of that, he's finished graduate school too, completing both his master's and doctoral programs. They say Jung Se-yoon is the first one ever to get through the whole thing that quickly."
General Director Kim Geum-ho snorted as he looked over Jung Se-yoon's profile.
Jung Se-yoon.
Age twenty.
There was really no need to check that dazzling résumé.
Just glancing at the family section, at his parents' profiles, was more than enough.
"If it were you, let's say. If the son of the man who built this massive empire called Kwangwoon submitted an application to your company, what do you think you'd do?"
"Well... I'd probably just pass him without asking a single question."
"Exactly. So what do you think was going through the minds of the professors at the university Jung Se-yoon attended? What about in graduate school? Do you think there was a single person among them who evaluated him purely on his own merits?"
"...Are you saying he isn't actually talented, that he's a manufactured genius?"
A manufactured genius.
It was the perfect phrase.
"Kwangwoon isn't a corporation anymore. It's an empire that presides over the whole world. And Chairman Jung Jin-ho is the emperor of that empire. So what happens if people start saying that his son, the one who has to inherit it all, is lacking?"
"Maybe not right away. But as time passed, the internal structure would start to shake, wouldn't it?"
"Right. Knowing that, Kwangwoon is deliberately trying to make him into a rare genius. Just as every dictatorship throughout history has done, they're firmly securing his standing."
From a young age, he'd been called a once-in-a-generation genius, graduating in record time from the nearly unassailable Kwangwoon University and finishing both master's and doctoral programs.
"And the next step is to make him the youngest researcher ever at GAIA, a place that only takes the world's top elite researchers."
An heir with an extraordinary intellect and a heart that cared for the earth and humanity.
That was how he'd be imprinted in the minds of Kwangwoon's retainers and the public.
The path was being carefully laid out for him.
"So Jung Se-yoon coming to GAIA should be seen as one of the steps for succession to the throne."
"That's right. Which is exactly why I'm in such a foul mood right now."
Kim Geum-ho let out a heavy sigh.
When GAIA was first being established.
He still vividly remembered the face of Chairman Jung Jin-ho, who had singled him out to be General Director.
'Not at all what I'd heard. He was like a total angel.'
Jung Jin-ho had built a massive empire on rivers of blood.
And yet his expression and manner of speech had been remarkably gentle, and his devotion to humanity had never once come across as a pretense.
That was why Kim Geum-ho had trusted him and thrown himself into this center with everything he had.
But a parachute hire? Really?
And a parachute hire meant to pave the way for his own son's succession at that!
This was a complete betrayal of Jung Jin-ho's stated will to save the earth and humanity! It would be a lie to say he wasn't disappointed.
"Did HR really go over it carefully? Aren't we supposed to be incredibly strict about this kind of thing?"
"Well... apparently Chairman Jung Jin-ho asked that his son be evaluated even more thoroughly and coldly than the other applicants."
More thoroughly and coldly, huh.
That was the kind of thing people said as a formality; in practice, it was nothing more than pressure to read the room and act accordingly.
"So it seems HR just went through the motions of a thorough review and hired him."
Of course. Who would dare to reject the emperor's son?
The moment Jung Se-yoon submitted his application here, acceptance had been a foregone conclusion.
"Hold on. Then is Jung Se-yoon going to attend today's meeting too?"
"Ah, yes. Today's the day each research team presents its progress, and the twenty newly hired researchers will be sitting in to observe."
"Is that so?"
At the General Director's subtle expression, General Manager Lee Tae-hyun, who was delivering the report, felt a surge of unease.
"General Director-nim. You, you can't do that."
"Do what?"
"I fully understand that you're not fond of him. But even so, if you humiliate him in front of everyone..."
"Hey. Who said anything about humiliating him? Any researcher who's joined our center is one of my kids now. And if that's the case, I have to train him and teach him so he can earn his keep. Isn't that right?"
"B-but..."
"Enough. Stop chattering and let's get going. I should at least see the faces of the new family members we've taken in."
"Ge, General Director-nim!!"
Cold sweat rolled down Lee Tae-hyun's back as he followed the General Director out.
* * *
'Son. You're going to become a scientist who saves the world.'
Se-yoon remembered perfectly the words his father had said to him ten years ago.
His dreams had kept changing, but perhaps it was from that moment onward.
Se-yoon had made up his mind to truly become a great scientist who would save the world.
And with the ability shared in secret between just him and his father, it was more than possible.
His father had used this ability to build a vast empire, and now the son intended to use it to revive a crumbling earth.
'Father calls it Intuition, but...'
Se-yoon called this ability by a different name.
'Comprehension.'
The ability to comprehend all things.
That was how Jung Se-yoon defined it.
"By using a geothermal offset device positioned beneath the Arctic cryosphere, we absorb the latent heat of fusion at the base of the glacier in reverse, and generate power by removing that heat through a thermomagnetic pump structure built with nanotubes. With a temperature maintenance of just 0.3 degrees, we project that ice melt rates can be reduced by 28%. The problem with this CSS project is..."
In the large auditorium, each research team was taking its turn presenting the progress of the project it was developing.
Se-yoon glanced briefly at the materials projected on the screen and at the documents distributed to each of the researchers.
"......!"
Along with a high-pitched ringing, a sharp ache shot through his head.
And all the content in those reports and materials packed with complex equations flooded into his mind at once.
"......."
He closed his eyes for a moment and drew a deep breath.
The content was extraordinarily complex, and once the ability activated, he always needed a little rest afterward.
In game terms, it was a concept a bit like a Cooldown.
"I'm Ahn Sang-hyun, Lead Researcher of Project LUCID. So far, our experiments in forming an aerosol plasma film have been successful. However, a nonlinear charge instability phenomenon has appeared along the upper-level jet stream, and the plasma potential at the tropopause has come out 4% higher than predicted, collapsing the film's alignment. In response, we've deployed new nanobots to..."
As a new presentation began, his Comprehension activated once again and his head burned with heat.
Se-yoon closed his eyes and let out a short sigh.
'Today's not going to be easy.'
* * *
GAIA regularly received reports on project progress through these presentations.
As Kwangwoon's biggest spending spree was currently directed here, everything had to be reviewed and developed with the utmost responsibility, and the new researchers sitting in on today's meeting needed to keep their wits about them and absorb every word.
After all, there was no telling which project they might be assigned to in the near future.
But today, Kim Geum-ho wasn't really taking in what was being presented.
His gaze had been fixed on a single spot for some time now.
'Our little prince seems awfully bored.'
General Director Kim Geum-ho was glaring, distinctly displeased, at Jung Se-yoon, who sat among the group of new researchers with his eyes closed, whether out of boredom or drowsiness.
"That concludes our presentation. Now, based on the materials each of you prepared, we'll open the floor for questions..."
"Hold on."
"Ah, yes. General Director-nim."
"Let's let the new hires handle the questions today."
"...Pardon?"
"It's been a while since we've had new researchers join us. Every minute, every second is precious to us. We can't afford to give them a long period to adjust. Which means they need to start blending in right now. Don't you agree?"
At that, smiles crept onto the faces of the researchers in the conference room.
It was something like an initiation ritual.
The same sort of thing they'd each been put through by their professors back in university.
Getting beaten down again and again by the monstrous elite researchers here was how new researchers learned.
"So let's go one by one. Stand up and tell us if you have any feedback. It doesn't have to be long."
The expressions of the new hires hardened even further.
Forget feedback; most of them hadn't even properly understood what was being presented.
"Ah, hello. I, I'm new researcher Oh Sang-hyuk. First of all, I'd like to express my gratitude to the senior researchers who gave today's presentations..."
But the new hires weren't about to let this chance slip by either.
No one in the room actually expected proper feedback or substantive commentary.
This was more like a draft, in a way.
"Skip the thanks. Is there anything in the presentations that would warrant feedback?"
It was about who would be brought into which research team.
This was an opportunity to make a solid impression on the senior researchers seated here.
"In, in my view, if we were to phase-synchronize the multi-plasma chambers..."
"Fourteen small-scale reactors have already successfully undergone electromagnetic phase synchronization. So why exactly would we need to phase-synchronize multi-plasma chambers on top of that? Can you even pin down the stabilization time?"
"......."
On the surface, it might have looked like they were crushing the new hires' spirits.
But this was how they learned.
And when someone showed a clear interest in a specific field like that, the research teams started eyeing them.
The sudden opportunity the General Director had thrown them was a chance to properly PR themselves.
"You're all vicious today. Going at the new hires like this."
In less than ten minutes, over ten new researchers had been soundly roasted.
And amid all their glum faces, the turn the General Director had been waiting for finally arrived.
"Next."
"...New researcher Jung Se-yoon."
At the name Jung Se-yoon, the room went suddenly still.
"I was able to follow the presentations well. If I may venture a single piece of feedback, I believe the problems occurring in the ongoing CSS project and the LUCID project are correlated."
And then the room stirred.
The CSS Lead Researcher spoke, his voice edged with discomfort.
"What are you talking about? The problems in the two projects are correlated?"
"CSS is a system for controlling the geothermal flux beneath the Arctic cryosphere, isn't it? You're using the geothermal offset device to absorb the latent heat of fusion in reverse. But bismuth telluride thermoelectrics have the properties of a strong paramagnetic material. When a strong heat flow arises during cooling, the alignment of electron spins generates localized magnetic fields."
"And?"
"At locations like the base of the Arctic region, where magnetic field lines concentrate vertically, that effect is amplified as geomagnetic deviation. If it repeats, the regional geomagnetic north pole gradually shifts, and annual pole movement of 5 to 10 km becomes possible. That means the structure of the radiation belt gets thrown off."
"Couldn't that be a temporary phenomenon?"
"Have there been any cases recently where low-orbit satellites had their orientation misaligned, or suffered power losses?"
"That's..."
The words caught in the Lead Researcher's throat.
Because, in fact, two low-orbit satellites had lost communications due to power loss.
"When a satellite's electronic shielding is misaligned, communication satellites can temporarily shut down. Any low-orbit satellites that were responsible for the affected region would naturally be impacted. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been a huge problem. It's only because the LUCID project is being conducted in a nearby region at the same time that the issue has surfaced."
Researcher Ahn Sang-hyun, who had been sitting there only to suddenly take a hit, jerked upright.
"What? Because of us?"
"Once the plasma film is saturated with positive charge, it ends up influencing the entire global electric potential. If that persists, the electron density of the ionosphere is disturbed. Errors in satellite orbital measurements will accumulate in centimeter increments. In the end, the entire satellite navigation system is likely to slow down."
When words alone weren't enough, Jung Se-yoon walked up onto the stage and began writing equations.
The researchers who had been staring blankly gradually started to grasp what Jung Se-yoon was getting at.
"If these equations are correct..."
"Are you saying this isn't just a project failure, but that it could actually distort the GNSS signal?"
"Yes. It disturbs the plasma potential of the stratosphere. Ionospheric anomalies triggered by a technological clash could lead to a runaway auroral event on a global scale. In all likelihood, a red aurora will appear in the near future, and that will be the first warning."
"!?"
A suffocating silence fell over the room.
The content had suddenly ballooned to such a massive scale that no researcher from any team could come up with a rebuttal.
And it was the General Director who finally broke the silence.
"Researcher Choi, Researcher Ahn. What do you think you're doing right now?"
"Uh... yes?"
"Aren't those your projects?"
"Y-yes, they are."
"Then either refute him, or get your asses out of here right now and plug the values into a simulation to check whether what the new hire just said is true or not! If it is, you're telling me the two projects could be causing a global-scale disturbance as we speak! Snap out of it!"
"Ah! A, apologies. We'll go check immediately!"
At the General Director's thunderous order, the researchers from both teams leapt to their feet and scrambled out of the conference room.
"......."
After finishing his say, Jung Se-yoon quietly returned to his seat, and General Director Kim Geum-ho let out a disbelieving laugh as he watched him.
He knew that the two research teams had been struggling for some time with those particular errors.
And yet this new hire, just from listening to today's presentations, had immediately uncovered the correlation between the two projects.
'And here I thought he was a total parachute hire.'
It seemed some kind of monster had just walked in.